JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The dynamics of the race for Jacksonville mayor are coming into shape with the release of a new poll commissioned by Florida Politics.
Although the contest has been dominated recently by a bitter feud between two Republicans, the poll, shows a Democratic candidate well ahead of all other candidates.
The poll surveyed 478 Jacksonville voters on Monday, Feb. 13. One question asked was: “If the election were held today, who would you vote for?”
Thirty-five percent of those who answered threw support behind former television personality Donna Deegan.
Former State Senator Audrey Gibson and Deegan are running against each other as Democrats in the Jacksonville mayoral race. Deegan is leading Gibson in the polls by 25%.
First Coast News' Political Analyst Andrew Pantazi said it may be because Democratic candidates aren’t airing negative attack ads.
“I think that she already entered this race with a lot of name ID even though she doesn’t have the amount of money that either Daniel Davis or Leanna Cumber has, that name ID carries her, and she’s not had to do any negative advertising in the same way because she is the front runner among the Democrats already,” Pantazi said.
Some local Florida elections are non-partisan, but that’s not the case here in Jacksonville.
“Sometimes the policy differences between two Republican candidates or two Democrats can be very great,” Pantazi explained. "But it does mean for the local parties that they’re more invested than they would be otherwise in a non-partisan race.”
Daniel Davis is the front running Republican candidate, with 17% of the vote. If one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, they’ll be Jacksonville’s next mayor. Otherwise, the city is headed for a run-off in May.
“If you support one of the candidates who didn’t make it,” Pantazi said, “are you willing to support the person from the same party or are you going to cross party lines or are you going to stay home when May comes around because you don’t like either candidate?”
More than 96% of people polled said they plan to vote in the mayoral election in March.